SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Thursday, April 10, 2025 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
U.S. Slashes Many of the Aid Programs It Had Promised to Keep (New York Times)
New York Times [4/9/2025 4:14 PM, Karoun Demirjian and Edward Wong, 831K]
One month ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration had completed its purge of foreign assistance, keeping only a small portfolio of lifesaving humanitarian aid programs in place.
But in the past several days, the Trump administration has slashed many of the programs it had pledged to preserve, according to lists compiled by government officials and aid workers. The cuts threaten to leave some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people without access to adequate supplies of food, clean water and medicine.
In countries like Afghanistan and Yemen, where millions of people do not have enough food, U.S.-backed humanitarian aid was completely cut off. Several countries where conflict has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, such as Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo, lost millions of dollars in support for critical food assistance.
The United Nations’ World Food Program, which distributes aid and coordinates shipments, said on social media that the termination of these programs “could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation.”
The cuts are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to erase the U.S. Agency for International Development, which for decades has been the government’s main outfit for distributing foreign aid. The State Department has said that it will take control of U.S.A.I.D.’s remaining functions by Aug. 15, and that Pete Marocco, who presided over the agency’s initial gutting, will oversee them.
Like many of the Trump administration’s recent moves to decimate federal agencies, the latest rollbacks have been drastic and, at times, erratic.
Last week, some U.S.A.I.D. officials were given lists of contracts and awards that remained active. But by the weekend, many of those projects had been axed, leaving government workers and outside organizations that carry out many of the programs reeling.
Then on Tuesday, some of the programs were restored, with little explanation.
The World Food Program was one of the largest implementing organizations to experience whiplash.
The funding cuts that were rolled out over the weekend would have crippled programs in 14 countries: Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Ecuador, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. On Tuesday, funding for Ecuador, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia and Syria was restored.
In the countries that remain blacklisted, however, the impact of the cuts could be devastating.
The World Food Program estimates that the loss of U.S. funding in Afghanistan will end food assistance that about two million people rely on — including approximately 400,000 malnourished children and mothers. In Yemen, food aid for 2.4 million people would come to an end, while in Congo, all food assistance in the eastern part of the country would cease.
The Trump administration has also cut funding for the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service, which is managed by the World Food Program and transports aid workers and supplies to remote areas.
The cuts are not being carried out through any regular process, according to current and former U.S.A.I.D. employees, who said that the officials who would usually be responsible for terminating awards are learning which programs have been ended from organizations that provide aid.
President Trump appears to have ordered some of the cuts. In an email reviewed by The New York Times, Mr. Marocco told colleagues on Friday that the White House wanted to know “whether we’ve complied yet with the president’s order to stop all payments to Afghanistan.”
The White House did not respond to a question regarding Mr. Trump’s role in ordering the cuts to Afghanistan.
Other cuts seem to have been orchestrated by Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old lawyer who was recently picked to run U.S.A.I.D. and who has been working on the cost-cutting task force assembled by the tech billionaire Elon Musk.
On Tuesday, in an email he sent to staff members announcing that certain World Food Program funds would be restored, Mr. Lewin apologized for the back and forth, according to people familiar with its contents.
On Tuesday, Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokeswoman, struggled to answer questions about whether Mr. Rubio had been involved in approving the latest round of cuts.“We know, of course, of his full involvement in the beginning. We know that the review had officially ended. We also know of his schedule,” she told reporters, ultimately concluding: “My goal is to have a more comprehensive answer regarding the process now on the ground for us.”
Mr. Trump issued an executive order in January requiring a “pause” on all foreign aid pending a review. Later that month, Mr. Rubio promised that lifesaving humanitarian assistance would continue unabated.
But at a meeting of the World Food Program’s executive board in mid-February, the Trump administration issued a statement signaling a serious caveat to that exemption.“President Trump has stated clearly that the United States is no longer going to dole out money with no return for the American people,” it read. “W.F.P. should not be advancing political ideologies while conducting its lifesaving work,” added the statement, which referred to “gender ideology” and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Food aid is not the only form of assistance that the Trump administration has continued to scale back, despite Mr. Rubio’s promises. Over the last several days, the administration has fired the few remaining health officials overseeing H.I.V. prevention and treatment for children and pregnant women through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.
Some of PEPFAR’s funding remains intact, but staff members, including whole divisions within U.S.A.I.D. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which together carried out the H.I.V. prevention and treatment, have been laid off. Employees in PEPFAR-funded programs in Africa say they still do not know which services they will be able to continue.
On Wednesday, the administration made further cuts in global health, ending funding for a program that was working to end neglected tropical diseases including river blindness and intestinal worms in seven of the poorest countries in West Africa.
The fate of funding for other major health programs, such as Gavi, an organization that helps to procure vaccines for children in developing countries, remains unclear. US restores urgent food aid, except in Afghanistan and Yemen, two of the world’s poorest countries (AP)
AP [4/9/2025 1:25 PM, Staff, 893K]
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has reversed new cutoffs in emergency food aid to several nations but maintained them in Afghanistan and Yemen, two of the world’s poorest and most war-ravaged countries, according to the State Department and officials who spoke to The Associated Press.
It marks the latest round of abrupt cancellations of foreign aid contracts run through the U.S. Agency for International Development and equally sudden reversals. The whipsawing moves come as the Republican administration and Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency dismantle USAID and dramatically reduce foreign assistance, asserting that the spending is wasteful and advances liberal causes.
The United States over the weekend sent notices terminating funding for U.N. World Food Program emergency programs in more than a dozen countries. Aid officials warned that the cuts could threaten the lives of millions of refugees and other vulnerable people, stressing the potential to further destabilize conflict-prone regions.
The State Department confirmed Wednesday that it had reversed those cuts in Somalia, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador. It said it was keeping the cancellations for Afghanistan and Yemen but left the fate of food aid in six other unidentified nations unclear.
Even in Syria, Somalia and other crisis areas where it had reinstated support for lifesaving food programs, the U.S. would work with the U.N. to modify its funding "to better align with Administration priorities," the State Department said by email. It gave no details.
Two USAID officials said Jeremy Lewin, the DOGE associate overseeing the dismantling of the aid agency, ordered the reversal of some of his contract terminations on Tuesday, after the AP reported them. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Trump administration reverses some cuts
The USAID officials said Lewin sent a note internally expressing regret for the sudden contract terminations and abrupt reversals. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other Trump administration officials had pledged that the kind of lifesaving aid targeted in those surprise cuts would be spared.
A United Nations official said the decision to restore funding came after intense behind-the-scenes lobbying of members of Congress by senior U.N. officials.
"The United States terminated a limited number of WFP programs based on specific country or program level priorities — including WFP awards terminated in Yemen and Afghanistan based on credible and longstanding concerns that funding was benefitting terrorist groups including the Houthis and the Taliban," the State Department said.
At a briefing Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce cited a U.S. government watchdog’s 2024 finding that department contractors reported paying at least $10.9 million to Afghanistan’s Taliban government in taxes, utility payments and fees.
"Other programs with WFP that were terminated were contrary to an America First agenda and didn’t make America stronger, safer, or more prosperous," the State Department said Wednesday.
Remaining cuts could still be disastrous
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Rubio on Wednesday to restore funding for other critical programs as well.
"Despite continued assurances that life-saving programs would be protected during the Trump Administration’s ‘review’ of foreign assistance, DOGE again spent the weekend cutting World Food Program assistance to feed people in crisis," the New Hampshire senator said in a statement to the AP.
It will "weaken America’s standing around the world," she added.Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, called the cuts “a potential extinction-level event” for two generations of progress in limiting the suffering of those caught in crises.The U.S. had been the largest funder of the WFP, providing $4.5 billion of the $9.8 billion in donations to the world’s largest food aid provider last year. Previous administrations had viewed such aid as serving U.S. national security by alleviating conflict, poverty and extremism and curbing migration.Afghanistan is scarred by decades of warMore than half of Afghanistan’s population — some 23 million people — need humanitarian assistance. It’s a crisis caused by decades of conflict — including the 20-year U.S. war with the Taliban — as well as entrenched poverty and climate shocks.Last year, the United States provided 43% of all international humanitarian funding to Afghanistan.The cuts affect about $560 million in humanitarian aid, including for emergency food assistance, treatment of malnourished babies, medical care, safe drinking water and mental health treatment for survivors of sexual and physical violence, according to an assessment by current and former USAID officials and partner organizations. The figure has not been confirmed by the U.S. government.A separate WFP assessment obtained by the AP showed that food assistance to 2 million people in Afghanistan would be terminated later this year. More than 650,000 malnourished children, mothers and pregnant women would would lose nutritional support.The United Nations Population Fund said the U.S. had cut $100 million in support for maternal health services for millions of women, as well as gender-based violence services.The International Rescue Committee, whose programs include nutritional assistance for tens of thousands of children under 5 and counseling services, said the cuts would affect nearly 1 million people.“Kids who have seen great violence, who benefit from social work and psychosocial care that we provide, will be cut off,” said Bob Kitchen, IRC’s head of global emergencies. Some in Yemen have been at risk of famine
The poorest Arab country was plunged into war in 2014 when Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized much of the North, including the capital, Sanaa. The U.S. supported a Saudi-led coalition that intervened the following year on behalf of the government. The conflict has been at a stalemate in recent years.
The war has led to widespread hunger, and experts warned as recently as 2024 that parts of Yemen were at risk of famine.
The U.S. cuts would end lifesaving food assistance to 2.4 million people and halt nutritional care for 100,000 children, WFP said.
The U.S. is carrying out a campaign of airstrikes against the Houthis in retaliation for their attacks on international shipping linked to the war in the Gaza Strip.
The WFP had already suspended its programs in Houthi-ruled northern Yemen, where the rebels have detained dozens of U.N. staffers and people associated with aid groups, civil society and the now-shuttered U.S. Embassy.
The latest cuts would affect southern Yemen, where the internationally recognized government opposed to the Houthis is based. The WFP warned that halting aid there “carries significant political and security implications and risks deepening the economic crisis and exacerbating instability.”
Last year, the WFP assisted 8.6 million people in Yemen, more than a quarter of its population, including more than 330,000 internally displaced people and 1.2 million with disabilities. Half were women and children.
More firings at USAID
Also Wednesday, the Trump administration and DOGE notified thousands of local staffers employed by USAID missions overseas that they would lose their jobs by Aug. 15. The group had been one of the last spared from layoffs.
The administration says it will move about 1,000 surviving humanitarian and development programs under the State Department, after ending 5,000 others. The email notices, which were sent Wednesday and reviewed by the AP, invited the newly laid-off workers abroad to apply for State Department jobs.
All but a few hundred of thousands of other USAID staffers have already been fired or been given severance notices effective this summer.
The Taliban say case of detained British couple will be decided under Islamic law (The Independent)
The Independent [4/9/2025 7:03 AM, John Besley, 44838K]
The Taliban detained a British couple in Afghanistan over a small matter and the courts will rule on it based on Islamic law, a government spokesperson said Tuesday, adding: "God willing, their problem will soon be resolved.".
It’s the first time in more than a month that Taliban authorities have publicly commented on the case of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, who were arrested in early February after being taken from their home in central Bamiyan province to the capital, Kabul.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the matter was "not that big" but did not go into detail.
"The only thing I can say is that the matter was previously with the Interior Ministry and it has now been handed over to the courts," Mr Qani said.
"Their problem (crime) is not that big. God willing, their problem will soon be resolved and a shariah (Islamic law) decision will be made. It is a small matter and should not be a cause for concern.".
The couple’s son Jonathan said last week he has been "interacting" with the US government after a video plea to President Donald Trump for help to get his parents released.
He told BBC News the UK Government has been "very, very supportive" of his family and he is now in contact with US government agencies.
Mr Reynolds’ parents were detained alongside Faye Hall, an American friend who had rented a plane to travel with them, and a translator from the couple’s Rebuild training business.
Their son, who is a dual British and American citizen, said Ms Hall was released late last month.
"I think, for me, after seeing Faye Hall get out, I’m like, ‘well, who did that?’," Mr Reynolds told BBC News.
"As an American – I’m a British citizen and American – I’m like, ‘hey, I’m going to go to the American president, see if he can help’.".
The Associated Press reports Ms Hall’s release was part of a deal which Qatari negotiators helped to broker.
Mr and Mrs Reynolds have run school training programmes for 18 years and remained in the country after the Taliban takeover in 2021.
After taking power, the Taliban introduced a ban on women working and education for girls older than 12.
Since his video appeal, Mr Reynolds said he has been "interacting" with the US government.
"I have been interacting with the state department and few other agencies since my video reach out this week which has been encouraging," he said.
"I mean, it’s a very, very tricky situation for any nation working with Afghanistan and the Taliban.".
Mr Reynolds’ sister Sarah Entwistle previously raised concerns over her father’s heart condition and his deteriorating health.
Ms Entwistle and Mr Reynolds’ parents have been detained for more than two months, their son said.
He said: "One of the complicated parts is my parents have adamantly said they want to stay there, they want to be released from prison because they’ve done nothing wrong, but they want to be released so they can carry on doing the work they’re doing.
"This just speaks to the character and the stamina and the vision and conviction that they have of why they’re there.".
The couple, who originally met at the University of Bath, married in Kabul in 1970. Fleeing Taliban fighters, Ibrahim begs the country he helped – Australia – to save his family (The Guardian)
The Guardian [4/9/2025 11:00 AM, Ben Doherty, 78938K]
Huddled on Afghanistan’s chaotic border with Pakistan, his young son shivering in the cold, Mohammed Ibrahim stared at the unmoving metal gates – willing them to open, even just for a moment.
"We spent the night there in the middle of the street with little Daniel and it was [the most] difficult night of my life," he says.
"Without food, water and blankets we stood until morning in the middle of thousands of people … but they did not allow anyone in and we come back again to Kabul.".
Back to the Taliban.
Stranded
Since the fall of Kabul and the descent of Afghanistan back into Taliban rule, there have been many dark days. The passage of nearly half a decade has dimmed neither the fear nor the threat.
Mohammed Ibrahim, now in hiding with his wife, Amina, and two children, Daniel and Helene, is a target of the Taliban because he worked on behalf of the Australian government.
Between 2011 and 2015 in republican Afghanistan, he was employed by the international NGO Save the Children on a program known as Children of Uruzgan. It was funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The program built and ran schools for children in one of Afghanistan’s poorest provinces, aiming to establish 50 kindergartens across a part of the country where six in 10 children never set foot inside a classroom. It taught girls to read and vaccinated children who never visited a hospital. The program trained dozens of doctors in neonatal care in the country with the highest infant mortality rate in the world.
In the middle of it all was Ibrahim, quietly travelling from village to village, translating for Australian aid workers as they spoke with village elders, delivering vaccines to doctors, distributing cash to rural women.
Ibrahim was proud of his work and the difference it was making in the forgotten corners of Afghanistan: "Working on those projects was an honour for me to serve my country and also help the Australian government.
"But later my connection with the Australian government and work experience with Save the Children became a danger for me and my family’s life. Because the Taliban think we are infidels and need to be killed because we worked and helped foreigners.".
That Ibrahim’s work on behalf of Australia has made him a target has been recognised by the Australian government. He has been granted locally engaged employee (Lee) certification – a formal recognition for those who worked with and for Australia "and are at risk of harm as a result of their work".
But Ibrahim is still stranded.‘Infidels’
Kabul fell with a terrifying swiftness on the morning of 15 August 2021. Two decades of Afghanistan’s flawed and fragile republican experiment collapsed with barely a whimper after a calamitous withdrawal deal Donald Trump signed with the Taliban.
International hopes for a reformed Taliban, that their desire for international legitimacy would restrain the most grotesque of their tendencies – their silencing of women, their brutality towards minorities – were short-lived. The Taliban were unrepentant, unreformed.
Those who had served the former administration and the western infidels who had backed it, or those who were members of ethnic minorities such as the Hazara, were cowed back into the shadows.
Ibrahim – both – was forced to flee.
Outside his work Ibrahim had used his burgeoning multimedia skills to film short videos of life in the mountainous villages of his home province, posting them online as a celebration of Hazara music, art and culture. But the footage shows music and poetry performances, women playing sport and with their faces uncovered: further antagonising the fundamentalist Taliban.
In the long years since, he and his family have led a precarious, peripatetic existence, skipping from his home province to remote mountain villages to the capital, Kabul, and back and forth over the country’s dangerous borderlands.
"Taliban visited my house … and asked my neighbours, ‘Where are your infidel neighbours? We have to find them, we must arrest them because they are infidels.’ And my neighbours told [them] that I ran away and they don’t know where I escaped to.".
Ibrahim hoped Kabul’s size might offer protection. But even there were Taliban who knew his history.
"We had to change our location every day and week so they could not find us," he says.Patrols prowled the streets, stopped people and demanded documents. Gunmen followed others to their homes. Dozens crowded into tiny, dark apartments, too frightened to go out.
"Everywhere was Taliban … I will never forget those difficult days we spent hungry and thirsty with a lot of fear there because Taliban were searching for us and we were not able to even go to a shop to purchase food.".‘With food, water and blankets we stand until morning in the middle of thousands of people’ – audio.
Ibrahim and his family set out on foot for Torkham, the mountainous border crossing into Pakistan. But after their cold and difficult night at the closed frontier they were forced to turn back.
In Kabul, each day brought news of more arrests of those who had worked for international agencies or served foreign governments. Sometimes they were seized from street corners. More commonly people – sometimes whole families – simply disappeared.
The net grew tighter. Ibrahim feared not only for his family’s safety but also for anyone who had sheltered them, assisted them, even fed them.
"Again, I tried to go to Pakistan and this time I spent two days and one night on the border due to rush of the people. We slept the night on the streets under the rain and cold weather.
"Daniel, my son, was three years old at that time. He was very sick and had a very high fever. I was not sure that he could get better and I was afraid for him. I was very worried because … four or five children died in front of my eyes on the border.".
This time they made it across. Pakistan was a sanctuary of sorts. The Taliban’s reach was weaker, though not extinguished. But among thousands of Afghan immigrants, Ibrahim and his family were at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords who exploited their lack of connections and temporary documents. When their visas expired, they were expelled back into Afghanistan.
Since then, the unhappy dance has continued. Sometimes every few days, Ibrahim and his family will pick up and leave, careful not to compromise anybody with information about where they might be headed.
Occasionally, too rarely, they get a few weeks of quiet, of relative stability. But always with the knowledge it could end without warning – with a flash of recognition on a street corner, a suspicion insufficiently appeased.
Guardian Australia is not revealing where – not even which country – the family are now sheltering.‘Delays, double handling’
Trying to get to Australia is a two-step process. The first, obtaining Lee certification, is a reflection, the government says, of "Australia’s view of its moral obligation to current and former employees who have provided valuable support to Australia’s efforts in Afghanistan".
Alone, it counts for little – it’s not much more than another compromising document should it fall into Taliban hands.
The second step is applying for and securing a visa to Australia. (A Lee program review found the two-step process "causes delays, double handling and confusion, and imposes an administrative burden on applicants". It heard numerous Lee candidates had been "left behind" in danger in Afghanistan.).
Ibrahim’s Lee certification means the family’s application for humanitarian visas will be prioritised – a recognition that it is their connection to Australia that has brought them into danger.
But there are barriers still. Ibrahim’s application for a humanitarian visa has sat with the Department of Home Affairs since 2022.
Stranded in Afghanistan, Ibrahim has found himself caught in a bizarre catch-22. The Australian government told him it could not progress his visa application from within Afghanistan but, at the same time, advised him not to leave the country.
A letter from Dfat told him: "Due to the closure of panel doctors in Afghanistan, we are currently unable to invite applicants to undertake medicals if located in Afghanistan.
"The department is unable to assist clients to travel outside of Afghanistan, and do not advise travel due to safety concerns.".‘Serious mess’
Ibrahim has a web of support that stretches around the world. He has letters of recommendation from former colleagues as far afield as Singapore and the US.
From Australia, he has offers of housing and community support, even employment.
Ibrahim is keeping his children warm through a bitter winter with the hope that spring may bring better news.
Government figures provided to Guardian Australia show that to the end of January, 2,427 Afghans have been Lee certified: 674 by Dfat, 1,741 by the defence department and 12 by Australian federal police.
Barely a third of them have reached Australia – 817 have travelled to Australia on class XB visas (with 2,368 immediate family members), while 82 have been granted visas (with 321 family members) and 116 applications for humanitarian visas are before the Department of Home Affairs.
"The former Liberal government failed to adequately plan for the evacuation of Afghan LEE and former ministers, including Peter Dutton, oversaw a program plagued by inconsistent and irregular decision making and poor communication with applicants," said a spokesperson for the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong.
Since Wong took office in 2022, more than 500 applicants have been certified under Dfat’s program –including Ibrahim – more than all previous foreign ministers combined.
"The Albanese government is focused on cleaning up the serious mess left by the Morrison government and we remain committed to doing what we can to assist those who helped Australia’s mission in Afghanistan.".
Ibrahim is planning the next move with his family. The plan is uncertain, contingent on what is possible, on the squeeze-and-release of the Taliban’s capricious rule.
"I would like to come to Australia," he says quietly. "Because I and my family will be safe from being arrested and killed by the Taliban.". Pakistan
Pressure builds on Afghans fearing arrest in Pakistan (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/9/2025 12:01 PM, Israr Ahmed Khan and Abdul Basit, 62527K]
Convoys of Afghans pressured to leave Pakistan are driving to the border, fearing the "humiliation" of arrest, as the government’s crackdown on migrants sees widespread public support.
Islamabad wants to deport 800,000 Afghans after cancelling their residence permits -- the second phase of a deportation programme which has already pushed out around 800,000 undocumented Afghans since 2023.
According to the UN refugee agency, more than 24,665 Afghans have left Pakistan since April 1, 10,741 of whom were deported.
"People say the police will come and carry out raids. That is the fear. Everyone is worried about that," Rahmat Ullah, an Afghan migrant in the megacity Karachi told AFP.
"For a man with a family, nothing is worse than seeing the police take his women from his home. Can anything be more humiliating than this? It would be better if they just killed us instead," added Nizam Gull, as he backed his belongings and prepared to return to Afghanistan.
Abdul Shah Bukhari, a community leader in one of the largest informal Afghan settlements in the coastal city, has watched multiple buses leave daily for the Afghan border, about 700 kilometres away.
The maze of makeshift homes has grown over decades with the arrival of families fleeing successive wars in Afghanistan. But now, he said "people are leaving voluntarily".
"What is the need to cause distress or harassment?" said Bukhari.Ghulam Hazrat, a truck driver, said he reached the Chaman border crossing with Afghanistan after days of police harassment in Karachi.
"We had to leave behind our home. We were being harassed every day.".
In Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on the Afghan border, police climb mosque minarets to order Afghans to leave: "The stay of Afghan nationals in Pakistan has expired. They are requested to return to Afghanistan voluntarily.".
Police warnings are not only aimed at Afghans, but also at Pakistani landlords.
"Two police officers came to my house on Sunday and told me that if there are any Afghan nationals living here they should be evicted," Farhan Ahmad told AFP.
The deportation programme which has already forced 800,000 undocumented Afghans across the border.
Human Rights Watch has slammed "abusive tactics" used to pressure Afghans to return to their country, "where they risk persecution by the Taliban and face dire economic conditions".
In September 2023, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans poured across the border into Afghanistan in the days leading up to a deadline to leave, after weeks of police raids and the demolition of homes.- ‘That is their country’ -
After decades of hosting millions of Afghan refugees, there is widespread support among the Pakistani public for the deportations.
"They eat here, live here, but are against us. Terrorism is coming from there (Afghanistan), and they should leave; that is their country. We did a lot for them," Pervaiz Akhtar, a university teacher, told AFP at a market in the capital Islamabad.
"Come with a valid visa, and then come and do business with us," said Muhammad Shafiq, a 55-year-old businessman.
His views echo the Pakistani government, which for months has blamed rising violence in the border regions on "Afghan-backed perpetrators" and argued that the country can no longer support such a large migrant population.
However, analysts have said the deportation drive is political.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have soured since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
"The timing and manner of their deportation indicates it is part of Pakistan’s policy of mounting pressure on the Taliban," Maleeha Lodhi, the former permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN told AFP.
"This should have been done in a humane, voluntary and gradual way.". Pakistan turns to bitcoin miners, AI data centers to use surplus power (Reuters)
Reuters [4/9/2025 9:57 AM, Ariba Shahid, 33298K]
Pakistan plans to allocate part of its surplus electricity to Bitcoin mining and AI data centres, the head of Pakistan’s Crypto Council and adviser to the finance minister said on Wednesday, adding it had held talks with several mining firms.
Pakistan’s energy sector is grappling with challenges, including high electricity tariffs and surplus generation capacity.
The rapid expansion of solar energy has further complicated the landscape, as more consumers turn to alternative energy sources to mitigate high costs.
Bilal Bin Saqib, chief executive officer of the council, told Reuters the location of the mining centre will be finalised based on the availability of excess power in specific regions.
Documents seen by Reuters outline the role of Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, who will serve as a strategic adviser to the Pakistan Crypto Council.
Zhao was in May last year sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to violating U.S. laws against money laundering at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
His role on the Pakistan council will include supporting blockchain infrastructure, advising on regulatory frameworks, and assisting with national initiatives, such as digital currency, mining, and youth education in blockchain technologies.
Saqib said the country has 15-20 million crypto users and is the third-largest global freelancer economy, with a growing fintech space.
"Pakistan is in the top 10 global crypto adopters despite it not being regularised," he said.
Saqib said he wants regulatory sandboxes, or safe environments for testing, to foster innovation and growth in the fintech and freelancer economy.
He also said upskilling Pakistan’s youth in blockchain and AI can drive job creation and the economy, boosting exports through digital services, and positioning the country as a hub for emerging tech talent on the global stage. India
India’s Millions of New Investors Are Reeling From Tariff Turmoil (New York Times)
New York Times [4/9/2025 4:14 PM, Anupreeta Das, Pragati K.B., and Hari Kumar, 831K]
Millions of small investors have piled into India’s stock market in recent years, eager to build wealth by betting on the country’s economic growth. Catchy advertising and easy-to-open online trading accounts have wooed young people and retirees alike, demystifying investing and fueling the exuberance.
This week, many of those investors got a rude shock — and an introduction to the pitfalls of globalization — when Indian markets buckled from fears that President Trump’s new tariff regime would induce a global recession.
On Monday, the Indian stock market lost around $170 billion in value as its two biggest indexes plummeted, mirroring global markets that have swung wildly as investors game out the likelihood of a downturn. By Tuesday, the domestic market had rebounded, and many analysts were sanguine about India’s economic advantages in trade negotiations with the United States.
On Wednesday, though, India’s Sensex and Nifty 50 indexes were down again as a 27 percent tariff on Indian exports to the United States took effect. India’s central bank cut interest rates and reduced its growth forecast, citing the rapidly changing global landscape.“The recent trade tariff-related measures have exacerbated uncertainties, clouding the economic outlook across regions, posing new headwinds for global growth and inflation,” Sanjay Malhotra, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said in a speech.
Many everyday investors, especially first-timers, were lurching between confusion and terror, unsure whether to blame their trading strategies or Mr. Trump.“Of course I’m worried,” said Gaurav Goyal, a 32-year-old entrepreneur who began investing about a year ago. “Nobody wants to see a red portfolio.”
Mr. Goyal said his stock holdings had fallen by 10 percent since Mr. Trump took office, and he was debating whether to keep trading stocks or buy safer assets like gold.“The one and only Donald Trump,” he said, was to blame for the state of affairs.
Ordinary Indians have flocked into stocks as regulators and the financial services industry have made it easier to invest, with trading platforms advertising heavily, said Girish Kodashettar, a certified financial planner based in Bengaluru.“A lot of awareness was created,” Mr. Kodashettar said.
The popularity of online trading accounts coincided with a steady rise in the Indian stock market, “meaning that new investors have only seen a one-way run,” said Pranjal Kamra, the founder and chief executive of Finology, a financial advisory firm. “They haven’t seen fluctuation or the market falling.”
Between March 2020, when the pandemic lockdowns began, and September 2024, the Nifty 50 stock index, made up of the 50 biggest Indian companies that trade on the National Stock Exchange, more than tripled in value. The index has since tailed off.
Mr. Kamra said he hadn’t heard about animosity toward the United States or Mr. Trump because of the wobbly market or Monday’s crash. But there is an overarching fear, he said. To pacify nervous investors, “I’d send an emoji that signifies calm and meditation to everyone panicking,” Mr. Kamra said. “A Buddha meditating!”
The market mayhem has produced moments of levity. Some internet users started using the term “Orange Monday,” a reference to the “Black Monday” crash of 1987 and to the hue of Mr. Trump’s skin. Others went with “Orange Is the New Black.”
Shubham Sachdeva, a 30-year-old chartered accountant whose stock holdings had fallen by 5 percent in recent days, said the United States was at the “epicenter” of a movement away from free trade. “Globalization, which integrated the world in the 1980s and 1990s for collective growth, now faces the opposite trend,” he said.
Some analysts and experienced investors took a more measured view, saying that short-term disturbances from the tariff negotiations were unlikely to impede India’s bigger growth story and, therefore, the market’s long-term trajectory.“There is no need to blame anyone for the situation,” said Nilesh Shah, a managing director at Kotak Mahindra Asset Management. The United States is doing what Mr. Trump believes it needs to do to address trade imbalances, Mr. Shah said, and “India has to deal with the current situation to create a win-win situation by becoming the U.S.’s preferred partner.”
Plenty of people in India were still bullish. Rachana Ranade, a chartered accountant and finance educator with 5.2 million YouTube subscribers, said many investors saw the rout as an opportunity.“Since yesterday, no one has asked me if this was the time to sell,” Ms. Ranade said on Tuesday. “They have all asked if this was a good time to add more.” A depressed market is ripe with opportunity, she said.“Sentiment is not good right now,” Ms. Ranade said. “But the prices are good.” India eyes quick trade deal with U.S. amid tariff pause, official says (Reuters)
Reuters [4/10/2025 1:15 AM, Shivangi Acharya, 1187K]
India wants to move quickly on a trade deal with the United States, a government official said on Thursday, after President Donald Trump’s stunning decision to pause hefty reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries, while hiking levies on China.
India and the United States had agreed in February to work on the first phase of a trade deal to be wrapped up by autumn 2025, aiming to reach two-way trade worth $500 billion by 2030.
"The 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs is a relief for Indian exporters, especially shrimp exporters," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"India is one of the first nations to start talks over a deal with the United States and to have a jointly agreed to a deadline to conclude it.".
Global export and trade dynamics will continue to hinge on trade tension between the United States and China, the official added.India’s trade ministry, which is leading the talks with the United States, did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
On Wednesday, Trump temporarily lowered duties on trading partners including India, just 24 hours after imposing steep tariffs that unleashed the most intense episode of financial market volatility since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To keep pressure on China, however, Trump said he would raise to 125% the tariff on imports from China. But the U.S. reciprocal tariff on India stands at 10%. India weighs export support measures amid U.S. tariff hike, say government sources (Reuters)
Reuters [4/9/2025 7:56 AM, Manoj Kumar, 126906K]
India is considering measures such as extending interest subsidies on bank loans and offering incentives to help exporters to diversify amid rising global uncertainty after the U.S. tariff hikes, two government sources said.
A 26% tariff on Indian exports - alongside even steeper duties on some other countries like China - has escalated trade tensions, and raised concerns among Indian exporters of gems and jewellery, chemicals, pharmaceutical and engineering goods.
The proposed support measures could be discussed at a meeting late on Wednesday, convened by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, with nearly 30 export promotion councils representing millions of exporters, said one of the government sources with the knowledge of the matter.
The minister and officials are expected to examine what steps could be taken within financial constraints to support vulnerable sectors, particularly small exporters in textiles, gems and jewellery, and engineering goods, the source added.
The Reserve Bank of India cut its interest rate on Wednesday for a second consecutive time while signalling scope for further easing - a move that could provide some relief to exporters.
Other proposals under consideration include extending government-backed insurance on exporters’ bank loans and marketing incentives to boost shipments to alternative markets in Latin America and Africa, a second government official said.
Officials from the finance and commerce ministries, along with the prime minister’s office, are working on the plans in consultation with other departments, the sources said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The commerce ministry did not respond immediately to email request for comment.
S.C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), who will attend Goyal’s meeting, said the government should offer at least 5% support through incentives and extend the interest subvention scheme, which expired on March 31, to help offset losses from the U.S. tariff hikes.
Exporters have also urged the government to defer a proposed 12% safeguard duty on some steel products that aims to curb cheaper Chinese imports, warning it would hurt their competitiveness amid rising domestic prices, he said. India’s finance minister says country needs support from central bank and government (Reuters)
Reuters [4/9/2025 10:39 AM, Sachin Ravikumar and Catarina Demony, 5.2M]
India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said her country’s economy - hit by U.S trade tariffs - will need help from the Reserve Bank of India and the government as she welcomed Wednesday’s interest rate cut by the central bank.
The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee cut its repo rate (INREPO=ECI) for a second consecutive time by 25 basis points to 6.00% as it seeks to boost a sluggish economy in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s change in trade policy.
The central bank started lowering rates with a quarter-point reduction in February, its first cut since May 2020.
"I welcome it with a sense of joy," Sitharaman told reporters when asked about the interest rate cut during a trip to London for the 13th UK-India economic and financial dialogue, adding that "growth is of great importance."
"We are at a situation where, because of the global uncertainties, we will need every support both from the central bank and from the (finance) ministry."
India is exploring options such as prolonging interest subsidies on bank loans and giving incentives to help exporters to diversify due to the increasing global uncertainty, two sources told Reuters earlier on Wednesday.
The imposition of a 26% tariff on Indian exports, coupled with even higher duties on some other countries such as China, has raised alarm among Indian exporters in sectors such as gems and jewellery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and engineering goods.
Asked if she expected any impact on India’s economic growth from the global trade turmoil, Sitharaman said sustained growth with a focus on domestic demand was possible.
Sitharaman, speaking alongside British finance minister Rachel Reeves after a bilateral meeting, also said that she was positive about the possibility of a free trade deal between the UK and India.
"I think both sides realise that we’ve had quite a lot of discussions, which was well worth it, but now it’s the time to conclude (the trade deal)," she said. UK and India rush to secure trade deal after Trump tariffs (Financial Times)
Financial Times [4/9/2025 4:14 PM, George Parker, Harriet Agnew, and John Reed, 14.6M]
Britain and India have held talks on closer financial co-operation as they rush to secure a trade deal, with officials in New Delhi saying US President Donald Trump’s trade war has put new impetus behind negotiations.
An Indian government official said on Wednesday that the trade discussions with the UK were going “very well” and that agreement on a trade accord could be reached in the coming months.
There have been false dawns before on a bilateral trade agreement, notably when former UK Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson promised that it would be signed “by Diwali” in October 2022.
But Indian officials say pressure from the US has given fresh impetus to long-delayed trade talks with the UK and EU, with both New Delhi and Brussels saying they expect to conclude the latter agreement this year.
India, which opened trade talks with Britain three years ago, was hit by a 26 per cent US tax on its goods in Trump’s global round of tariffs. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also called for faster trade talks after the US imposed a 10 per cent levy on British imports.
Negotiations have previously stumbled over issues including visas for Indians assigned by their companies to the UK and British social security payments for Indians who spent part of their careers working in the UK.
Britain is hoping to gain better access to Indian markets for advanced manufacturing, clean energy, financial services and professional and business services.
UK chancellor Rachel Reeves met India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in London for a UK-India economic and financial dialogue on Wednesday and pledged to accelerate trade deals.“Our relationship with India is long-standing and broad and I’m delighted with the progress made throughout this dialogue to develop it further,” she said.
The two sides touted a number of deals to illustrate deepening trade ties. Paytm, an Indian digital payment app, set out plans to invest in the UK, while Coventry University announced it had been granted a licence to open a campus in Gujarat.
Earlier Reeves promised leading City of London executives that she would seek better trade deals across the world, including with India, the EU, the Gulf states, South Korea and Switzerland.
Reeves told figures including Charlie Nunn of Lloyds Banking Group, Dan Olley of Hargreaves Lansdown, Andrea Rossi of M&G and António Simões of L&G that Britain could offer foreign investors “resilience” in a turbulent world.
One person who attended the meeting said: “There was a general sense of calm, while exercising prudence and a need to monitor developments closely.”
The person added that there was a general sense that there had not yet been a “significant reaction” from customers to the market turmoil unleashed by Trump’s tariffs but an acceptance that volatility would affect all economies. ‘We are nearly there’: UK and India agree 90% of free trade agreement (The Guardian)
The Guardian [4/9/2025 2:18 PM, Eleni Courea, 126906K]
The UK and India have agreed 90% of their free trade agreement, businesses were told on a call with negotiators this week.
There are hopes the UK government will succeed in finalising a highly coveted trade deal with India, a booming economy of 1.4 billion people, this year.
A government source told the Guardian that mobility, which involves visas for Indian workers and has been one of the most contentious issues in the negotiations, had largely been resolved.
"We are nearly there. We are as close as we’ve ever been, but conversations at the political level cut both ways," the source said.
At a briefing with UK negotiators from the trade department on Tuesday, businesses were told that 90% of the deal had been agreed and that some of the outstanding issues related to whisky, cars and pharmaceuticals.
The eventual deal could mean dramatic tariff reductions on scotch whisky and car exports to India, helping two sectors of the UK economy that are heavily exposed to the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs in the US.
The call with businesses took place before talks between Rachel Reeves and India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, about a bilateral investment treaty, which the UK and India are negotiating in parallel with the free trade agreement.
The treaty, which would establish legal protections for investments between the UK and India, is a top priority for ministers because of the benefits for the British financial services sector.
Sitharaman attended a working dinner with Reeves and Keir Starmer on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, she held talks with Jonathan Reynolds, the trade secretary, who travelled to New Delhi in February to formally relaunch the talks.
At an event at the Indian high commission before her meetings on Tuesday, Sitharaman said India was seeking more bilateral trade agreements as a result of global uncertainties "multiplying by the day".
Speaking to reporters after the talks on Wednesday, she said there was a "great sense of positivity and dedication" to conclude the UK-India deal soon. Ministers announced a package of £128m in new export deals and investments with India after her visit.
Reeves said ministers were pursuing trade deals with countries including India because it was "imperative we go further and faster to kickstart economic growth".
Keshav Murugesh, the chief executive of the technology company WNS, which is expanding its London headquarters, said closer ties would "fuel innovation and generate high-skilled jobs" in both countries.Some of the issues that remained outstanding in the trade deal negotiations earlier this year included some agricultural exports and India’s demand to be excluded from the UK’s forthcoming border tax.
The Guardian revealed last year that India had asked for an exemption from the UK’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) – a planned tax on the import of carbon-intensive goods such as steel and fertiliser – on the basis that it is a developing country.
Any such exemption would be controversial because the tax is designed to support UK steel producers by levelling the playing field with countries that have a lower or no carbon levy.
The UK launched negotiations for a free trade agreement with India, which is seen as one of the biggest prizes of Brexit, in January 2022. Successive Conservative governments sought to strike a quick deal with no success. India Readies For US Extradition Of Mumbai Attacks Suspect (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/9/2025 6:41 AM, Staff, 931K]
Indian authorities are readying for the extradition from the United States of a man that New Delhi accuses of helping plan the 2008 Mumbai siege that killed 166 people.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, a Canadian citizen born in Pakistan, is due to be extradited "shortly" to face trial, Indian media said, reporting that New Delhi had sent a multi-agency team of security officials to collect him.
India accuses him of being a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, designated by the United Nations as a terrorist organisation, and of aiding planning the attacks.
US President Donald Trump announced in February that Washington would extradite Rana, whom he called "one of the very evil people in the world".
The US Supreme Court this month rejected his bid to remain in the United States, where he is serving a sentence for a planning role in another LeT-linked attack.
New Delhi blames the LeT group -- as well as intelligence officials from New Delhi’s arch-enemy Pakistan -- for the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, when 10 Islamist gunmen carried out a multi-day slaughter in the country’s financial capital.
India accuses Rana of helping his longterm friend, David Coleman Headley, who was sentenced by a US court in 2013 to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to aiding LeT militants, including by scouting target locations in Mumbai.
Rana, a former military medic who served in Pakistan’s army, emigrated to Canada in 1997, before moving to the United States and setting up businesses in Chicago, including a law firm and a slaughterhouse.
He was arrested by US police in 2009.
A US court in 2013 acquitted Rana of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai attacks. But the same court convicted him of backing LeT to provide material support to a plot to commit murder in Denmark.
Rana was sentenced to 14 years for his involvement in a conspiracy to attack the offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which had published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed that angered Muslims around the globe.
But India maintains Rana is one of the key plotters of the Mumbai attacks along with the convicted Headley -- and the authorities have welcomed his expected extradition.
In February, Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra state which includes the megacity Mumbai, said that "finally, the long wait is over and justice will be done".
Devika Rotawan, a survivor of the Mumbai attacks, said she believed the extradition of Rana would be a "big win for India".
"I will never be able to forget the attack," she told broadcaster NDTV on Wednesday.
Counterterrorism experts however suggest Rana’s involvement was peripheral compared to Headley, a US citizen, who India also wants extradited.
"They gave us a small fish but kept David Headley, so the essential outcome is going to be symbolic," said Ajay Sahni, head of the Institute for Conflict Management, a New Delhi-based think tank.
Rana knew Headley, 64, from their days together at boarding school in Pakistan.
Headley, who testified as a government witness at Rana’s trial, said he had used his friend’s Chicago-based immigration services firm as a cover to scout targets in India, by opening a branch in Mumbai.
Rana has said he visited Mumbai ahead of the attacks -- and stayed at the luxury Taj Mahal Palace Hotel that would become the epicentre of the bloody siege -- but denied involvement in the conspiracy.
Sahni said that more than 16 years after the attacks, Rana’s extradition is of "historical importance" rather than a source of any "live intelligence".
But he added that handing him over has "a chilling effect" on others abroad who India seeks to put on trial. India withdraws transhipment facility for Bangladesh exports via land borders (Reuters)
Reuters [4/9/2025 9:40 AM, Manoj Kumar and Ruma Paul, 41523K]
India has withdrawn a transhipment facility for Bangladesh’s export cargoes to other countries via its land borders, in a fresh blow to Dhaka which is already reeling from steep U.S. tariffs on its goods.
The move is expected to disrupt Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports and raise costs for trade with countries including Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, exporters said.
A circular from India’s customs department issued on Tuesday said it has decided to rescind a 2020 order allowing transhipment of Bangladeshi exports to third countries through India’s land customs stations to ports and airports in containers or closed-body trucks.
The facility has been withdrawn due to "delays and higher costs" hindering India’s own exports and creating backlogs, India’s external affairs ministry spokesperson said.
"This will stop Bangladesh’s exports to Nepal and Bhutan," Yunus Hossain, a Dhaka-based trader, said.
In relation to readymade garments, Bangladesh’s biggest export, Bangladesh has always prioritised direct shipping, "so the impact will hopefully not be severe. But it does hamper an intra-regional potential," said Rubana Huq, former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
The change comes as the U.S. implements 37% reciprocal tariffs on Bangladeshi exports and is likely to increase logistical burdens, further straining Dhaka’s export competitiveness, said Selim Raihan, an economics professor at the University of Dhaka.
India is one of Bangladesh’s top trading partners, and the move is "inconsistent with the future prospects of an enhanced bilateral relationship," Raihan said.
Trade ties between the neighbours, which share a 4,000 km (2,500 mile) border, have cooled since Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid mass protests last August and sought shelter in India.
Bangladesh’s commerce ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative, said the decision may violate World Trade Organisation rules, which guarantee landlocked countries freedom of transit. India Says PM Modi Invited For Russia’s Victory Day Parade (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/9/2025 11:25 AM, Staff, 931K]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to attend Russia’s annual Victory Day parade in Moscow, India’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday, without confirming the premier’s attendance.
Russia has promised to hold its biggest World War II commemorations "in history" to mark 80 years since the Soviet Union and allied powers defeated Nazi Germany.
The annual Victory Day celebration on May 9 has emerged as Russia’s most important public holiday, one marked with a massive parade of military equipment and soldiers through the Red Square, and culminating in an address from President Vladimir Putin.
Historically close to Russia, India has resisted Western pressure to distance itself from Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia sells India critical military hardware, and has also increasingly emerged as a key energy supplier as New Delhi seeks a pipeline of cheap imports to fuel its economic expansion.
"Our prime minister has received an invitation for participation in the Victory Day celebrations," foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in New Delhi.
"We will be announcing our participation in victory day celebrations at the appropriate time."
Modi visited Russia last October for a multilateral summit and Putin is expected to arrive in India for a bilateral later this year. India Approves $7.4 Billion Deal to Buy 26 French Fighter Jets (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/9/2025 7:00 AM, Sudhi Ranjan Sen, 16228K]
The Indian government has approved the purchase of 26 Rafale marine fighter jets, boosting the South Asian nation’s defense credentials at a time it is presenting itself as a bulwark against China in the Indian Ocean region.The deal, worth 640 billion rupees ($7.4 billion), was approved by a committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, according to senior officials who asked not be named as discussions are private. The Press Trust of India was the first to report on the nod.The order includes four twin-seater trainer aircraft and the maintenance of 36 Rafale fighters India bought for its air force in 2016. the officials said. The remaining 22 jets are designed for a single pilot.The naval deal was a key part of discussions during Modi’s visit to France in 2023. As China becomes increasingly assertive in the Indian Ocean region, Western nation have been keen to draw New Delhi into their orbit by offering critical technology such as semiconductors, sophisticated weapon platforms and investments.According to plans shared by officials in the past, the fleet will be based on the Indian Navy’s locally-manufactured aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant.India’s defense Ministry and navy declined to comment. The green light for the deal sees France closing in on Russia, which is traditionally India’s biggest weapons supplier but is slowing down deliveries due to sanctions for its war in Ukraine. From 2020 to 2024, India was the biggest buyer of French military hardware followed by Qatar, according to a report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an independent think tank that tracks global weapons trade.The South Asian country has a fleet of Russian-made MiG-29K fighters which are based on INS Vikramaditya — India’s second aircraft carrier.India is also developing homemade deck-based fighters and the purchase of French jets will help plug gaps in the navy’s combat capabilities. Wife of Briton detained in India speaks of fears for his health (The Guardian)
The Guardian [4/9/2025 6:50 AM, Daniel Boffey, 78938K]
The wife of a British man arrested over extremism claims at an Indian airport at the end of a family holiday has spoken of her fears for his health.
Heiba Khanum, 44, said she had been reassured initially by officers that she would be swiftly be reunited with her husband, who has a heart condition, but that he had since spent more than seven months in a prison cell.
Aziz Ahmed, a British national and father of three who was born in India, was arrested on 30 August at Bengaluru airport after a six-week holiday with his wife and their teenage children.
According to India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), Ahmed was under investigation over allegations that he had been recruiting young people to attend sermons inspired by Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group proscribed in the UK and defined as a terrorist organisation by the Indian state in October.
Ahmed, 48, who lives with his family in Waldshut-Tiengen, a German town near the Swiss border, denies the allegations. His wife described the NIA’s claims as "nonsense".
"As a wife, I can say he’s not the type at all," she said. "He may just be an engineer by certification, but he is literally a teacher on the go, and he’s a student for life.
"He’s always had this never-ending thirst for knowledge. He’s still learning about all the plants that are there in the prison; he’s found a person who can teach him about the scientific names of those plants.
"That’s that’s how he is, even with the kids. In fact, when we were on the way to the airport, he was just talking to the kids about relative velocity. Little did I know that the quicker we were heading to the airport, the quicker we were losing him.".
Khanum said their 16-year-old son asked her every day when what she had done to get his father home. "He’s just trying to find out when his dad is coming back," she said. "How do I tell him that I’m trying?".
Khanum said her husband, who is a freelance business consultant, had suffered from a serious heart complaint for which he had surgery in 2023 but that the operation had left him with reduced lung capacity.
Their summer visit to see family in Bengaluru had been an opportunity to skip the waiting list at home and seek medical treatment, she added.
"Since the time he’s been in prison, his palpitations have started again," she said. "The same problem he had the surgery for has restarted.
"It is scary, because there have been times when I have literally had to keep my hand in front of his nose just to see his breathing. There have been months I haven’t slept because of how serious this could get.".
She added that she struggled to cope with the thought that her husband’s case might emulate that of the British Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been detained in an Indian jail for seven years despite being acquitted of all the charges against him.
She said: "I just want this nightmare to end. I thought that we would lose him to Covid. My son used to have blackouts, thinking that he’s going to lose his father due to his health. Little did we know that we have he has been taken away from us by other means.".
The NIA arrested six other alleged members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in May. Ahmed is accused of conspiring with them to hold secret sermons with the intention of establishing an Islamic caliphate in India.
Khanum said the authorities had refused requests for Ahmed to receive private medical treatment and that he had been without his prescribed inhaler for "almost a month".
Ahmed was alone when he was arrested as he had decided to leave the family holiday two days early in order to make a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. "It is something that we feel has a healing effect," she said.
Indian media reports have suggested that Ahmed was charged last month. His wife said she had not seen any paperwork and that their lawyers would be petitioning for his release at a bail hearing on 16 April.
She said he had also been encouraged to sign documents that he had not read and that he was left at one stage in the same room as two tuberculosis patients while receiving treatment in hospital during a brief time away from his cell.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said: "We are supporting a British national detained in India and are in contact with the local authorities.".
The Indian high commission has been approached for comment. Trump’s Tariffs Are Modi’s Greatest Economic Test (Wall Street Journal – opinion)
Wall Street Journal [4/9/2025 5:55 PM, Sadanand Dhume, 810K]
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces his stiffest economic test since taking office more than a decade ago. On the surface, it might look like the world’s fifth-largest economy got off relatively lightly with President Trump’s tariffs: The 26% he initially imposed on Indian goods was less than what competitors China (104%), Vietnam (46%) and Bangladesh (37%) faced. Even though on Wednesday Mr. Trump announced a 90-day pause on higher tariffs—dropping to a 10% rate for most countries except for China, which he raised to 125%—the future remains uncertain as the president may flip-flop again. India, a major beneficiary of the post-Cold War, U.S.-led global economy, could be one of the biggest losers if Mr. Trump radically rewrites its rules.
Amid this uncertainty, Mr. Modi will need to be nimble in economic policymaking and committed to market-friendly reforms that his tenure so far has largely lacked. Otherwise the prime minister’s goal of making India a developed economy by 2047—a century after independence from Britain—will remain more a campaign slogan than a realistic prospect.
While Mr. Trump’s trade policies are harmful, there’s a silver lining for India. Despite its high trade barriers and reputation for recalcitrance in trade negotiations, India faces lower tariffs than several other Asian nations. Before Mr. Trump’s “liberation day” announcement, few would have predicted this. A report on foreign trade barriers released earlier this year by the U.S. trade representative’s office pointed out that India’s average most-favored nation applied tariff rate of 17% was “the highest of any major world economy” and that its tariff rates on agricultural products, averaging 113.1%, “are among the highest in the world.” Mr. Trump has called India a “tariff king” and referred to its tariffs as “unfair” and “a big problem.”
New Delhi could try to persuade labor-intensive manufacturers to move garment production from Bangladesh and sneaker production from Vietnam to India. In recent years, India has marketed itself as an alternative manufacturing destination for companies seeking a so-called “China Plus One” strategy—diversification of operations to hedge against geopolitical risk.
The potential downsides of America’s turn away from trade, however, far outweigh any potential upsides. Following India’s economic reforms of the 1990s, which involved rolling back stifling government control of the economy and opening up to trade, the share of its population living in extreme poverty has fallen dramatically, from 46% in 1990 to only 9% today. In manufacturing, India has continued to underperform compared with nimbler East Asian economies such as China and Vietnam. Nonetheless, between 1990 and 2023, India’s share of global goods exports more than tripled, from 0.5% to 1.8%, and the country rose from being the world’s 34th largest goods exporter to 17th. In services—not touched by the Trump tariffs—India accounts for 4.3% of global exports and is ranked seventh in the world.
Unlike China or the European Union, India can’t afford to pick a trade fight with the U.S. India runs deficits with most of its top trading partners, but it runs a $46 billion surplus with the U.S. About 20% of India’s goods exports of $432 billion in 2023 were to the U.S. The limited success of Mr. Modi’s ambitious “Make in India” initiative, bolstered by billions of dollars of incentives to companies to manufacture in India, rests largely on iPhone manufacturing by Apple subcontractors in the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
North America is the largest market for India’s $338 billion in service exports and the largest source of the $119 billion it attracts each year in remittances from overseas Indians. Large Indian software service companies such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services have long used U.S. H-1B visas to boost their profitability by employing relatively inexpensive engineers from India. India’s tech industry enjoys close links with Silicon Valley, home to tens of thousands of engineers of Indian origin.
India’s fraught relationship with China makes its economic ties with the U.S. even more important. For security reasons, India discourages China from investing in large swaths of its economy, including telecom infrastructure, electric vehicles, technology startups and government procurement. Following a border clash in 2020, India banned TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps. India’s $16.7 billion in exports to China in 2023—mostly ores, chemicals and seafood—were one-fifth of its exports to the U.S.
All this explains why India, unlike China and the European Union, hasn’t retaliated against Mr. Trump’s tariffs. During Mr. Modi’s visit to Washington in February, the two countries’ leaders spoke of a potential trade deal and of more than doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. India also made some token concessions, such as by reducing tariffs on American bourbon and large motorbikes, among other items. But Indian hopes of averting tariffs by working toward a trade deal were dashed by the president’s announcement last week.
For Mr. Modi, the challenge also presents an opportunity. To lift India’s economy, he could tackle the complicated labor laws, byzantine tax policies, bureaucratic overreach and unreliable electricity supplies that have made India uncompetitive as a manufacturing destination compared with nimbler Asian rivals. Prachi Mishra, an economist at Ashoka University in India, said in an email that New Delhi ought to adopt a four-pronged strategy: Expedite free-trade agreements, reform labor regulations, make it easier to extract raw materials and create large special economic zones for labor-intensive manufacturing.
Mr. Modi should have pursued these economic reforms years ago. But perhaps Mr. Trump will force him to do what he should have done from the start. Modi Must End India’s ‘Inspector Raj’ Mindset (Bloomberg – opinion)
Bloomberg [4/9/2025 5:00 PM, Andy Mukherjee, 16228K]
It isn’t just the Americans. From factories making Louis Vuitton fashion to those churning out kitchen appliances, everyone is waiting for the Indian quality inspector. Indonesia is getting impatient; the Europeans are fuming. The Chinese think it will be easier to get tickets to a Taylor Swift concert than to have them show up in Shenzhen.For Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a quick deal with the US president, he should offer to dismantle the “Inspector Raj” that has been weaponized by his administration, ostensibly to create jobs but really to protect powerful local interests. Before Trump paused reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, the selloff in the benchmark Sensex was muted compared with the carnage in other Asian indexes. That made sense because the levy on the most-populous nation was less onerous than some of its neighbors. However, exploiting a regional advantage will require politicians and bureaucrats in New Delhi to change their whole mindset as negotiations kick off.Hopefully, the tariff shocker will shake them out of complacency. No matter how enthusiastically New Delhi projects itself as a rising superpower, it can’t emulate Beijing’s risky, tit-for-tat strategy. The US accounts for 15% of Chinese goods exports; it buys 19% of the merchandise India sells overseas. Then there are its software services. Modi’s only option is negotiations. To jumpstart them, he should offer to axe overseas factory inspections.Starting with about 100 five years ago, nearly 800 products across more than 100 sectors now need to be certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards. While the original aim may have been to stop local shop shelves from being flooded with poor-quality Chinese-made appliances, the so-called quality-control orders are starting to clog up global supply chains.Junking the whole apparatus, while lowering taxes on US exports, may not please Trump as much as a full capitulation like Vietnam’s, which has offered to cut duties on American goods to zero. For reasons of domestic political economy, though, Modi can’t go that far — particularly when it comes to food and dairy.By scrapping quality-control orders, which came up for censure recently in the Trump administration’s annual trade estimate report, the prime minister can pave a path to lowering the $40 billion trade surplus with the US. Throw in purchases of oil and weapons, and New Delhi will have given Trump enough to ask for lighter punishment.The polyester in Nike gym shorts — coming from a factory in China or Thailand — and the imported Vietnamese steel used by local automakers have to be BIS-certified. Further, these quality marks, as the trade estimate report notes, “can only be issued following a site visit by an Indian inspector to the manufacturing facility.” They also need to be frequently renewed. The US quarreled with India for three years, both bilaterally and at the World Trade Organization, over its polyethylene quality control order: Why not accept self-certification or results from internationally accredited labs? This is just a rebirth, on a global scale, of the “Inspector Raj” that benighted the socialist economy I grew up in. At my father’s tiny shoe-upper factory, inspectors would drop in with questions like: “Where’s the spittoon for workers?”; “Why’s the height of urinals off by two inches?”From the excise official tasked with checking illegal movement of goods, to the labor monitor keeping a vigil on working conditions, everyone expected a bribe. Small firms had to accommodate the costs in their meager profits. They stayed small.Those same impulses, which ebbed somewhat when the economy liberalized in the 1990s, have returned with a vengeance. My colleague Mihir Sharma has described the quality-control orders as self-harming. In garments and footwear, where India’s biggest opportunity has opened up, they destroy jobs. In an op-ed for the Business Standard, a group of economists, including a former chief adviser to the Modi government, demanded an immediate elimination of this relapse of trade policy into economic nationalism, arbitrary interventionism, and crony capitalism.Of late, the government standards agency has been busy raiding warehouses used by sellers on Amazon.in and Flipkart, Walmart Inc.’s local e-commerce unit. The haul? Uncertified toys, hand blenders, aluminum foil, metallic water bottles, PVC cables, food mixers, smartwatches and speakers. Yes, it would be nice if some of those were made by the domestic workforce, but why target only the largest American e-commerce platforms, when local retailers are selling the same brands?And why not focus on the bigger prize, which is to be a contender for multinationals’ China+1 production strategy? Ending the weaponization of quality control may help revive the share of factory output in the economy from a 60 year low. Openness to trade can be India’s ticket to join Asia-wide, labor-intensive production networks that will reassemble once the global trade war subsides.From Nike and Uniqlo to Zara and Shein, brands will source clothing from where they’re the cheapest to make for US consumers. But politicians and bureaucrats must stop playing their disruptive games, like effectively banning imports of polyester and viscose fiber. That only helps a couple of local tycoons, and is rightly seen by the world as protectionist.Food, however, is a different story, and here Modi can’t make big concessions to his friend in the White House, either on price or quality.The Americans will have to accept high tariffs as well as the requirement that milk, butter and cheese sold locally only come from animals that have not consumed feeds containing “internal organs, blood meal, or tissues of ruminant or porcine origin.” Washington views these conditions as a nontariff barrier devoid of any animal or human health justification. However, no Indian government — let alone one led by the self-appointed guardian of the Hindu right — will dare sacrifice a core cultural value of the nation’s vegetarian population. Or incur the wrath of dairy farmers in Gujarat, Modi’s home state. Let quality control on food stand; most of the rest should go. Especially the inspector raj. NSB
Trump tariffs hit Bangladesh apparel factories, threaten workers’ jobs (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [4/10/2025 4:11 AM, Syful Islam, 1.2M]
Garment supplier Abdullah Al Mamun woke up on Thursday morning last week only to receive worrisome messages, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped a 37% "reciprocal" tariff on Bangladeshi products in addition to a usual 15% tariff.
The bad news was brought in by his U.S. clients, who asked him to put production and shipment of goods on hold against the orders they had placed for May, June and July.
"Orders for 600,000 pieces of apparel items have been put on hold till June," Mamun told Nikkei Asia. He is the owner of Sense Garments BD, a buying house that sources $1.5 million worth of goods monthly from two factories in Dhaka for his American buyers. The factories bought many raw materials to prepare the goods already. "With production halted due to new tariffs, the factories won’t be able to withstand the pressure and will be shut one after another unless a favorable solution comes," Mamun said.
The reciprocal tariffs Trump announced last week have perplexed political and business leaders worldwide and have made the future of trade with the U.S. equally uncertain. Although Trump announced on Wednesday a 90-day reprieve on reciprocal tariffs, the uncertainty remains given the outcome of possible bilateral negotiations.
The impact of Trump’s moves may differ not only due to the difference in the applied tariff rates that vary from country to country but also due to who the actual beneficiaries of the trade are, and in the case of labor-intensive industries in emerging countries, a sudden break in exports to the U.S. could trigger massive job loss for low-income earners, potentially leading to social unrest.
Bangladesh’s apparel industry, which employs millions and is the fourth largest exporter for U.S. clothing brands, is a perfect example.
Mamun is not alone. The owner of Dhaka-based Accenture Footwear and Leather Products, AKM Mosphiqur Rahman, was also forced to stop procedures for the shipment of leather bags worth $300,000 on Sunday after receiving a directive from a U.S. buyer. He told a business group meeting on the day that the American buyer wanted to negotiate a discounted price to make up the losses to be incurred by the tariffs.
Mamun and Rahman are two of the many exporters who have been asked by the buyers to hold production or shipment.
"Many factories will be closed" if the new tariff actually takes effect, Mohammad Hatem, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), told Nikkei, adding that a job cut is imminent as production will be halted or lessened in many factories.
Faruque Hassan, former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), feels American buyers are currently losing a sense of normalcy. "Buyers should be more sensible since the new tariff is not our fault," he said. Since Bangladesh factory owners offer very competitive prices, "seeking discounts, cancelling orders or putting a work order on hold wouldn’t be rational."
In 2024, Bangladesh exported goods worth over $8 billion to the U.S., while imports from there amounted to slightly more than $2 billion. Apparel and textile-related products account for 84% of Bangladesh’s exports, backed by around 3,000 garment factories and millions of workers.
According to a government disclosure last year, 3.3 million workers are in BGMEA’s member factories and 1.7 million are in BKMEA’s member factories. The majority of the factories’ employees are women.
Among them is Maria Akter, who contributes to her rickshaw puller father to pay house rent in Dhaka with her salary from an apparel factory. "I can’t imagine what will happen, if the factory shuts," she said. "I am not sure if I will be able to get another job if many factories are closed."
For Bangladesh, the export-oriented apparel industry has been the engine of growth in household income, having helped the once-poorest country graduate from the lower-income category set by the World Bank and become a lower-middle-income country in 2015. Women workers’ wages have also contributed to a significant growth in their household income and improved purchasing power.
But household income levels still remain the lowest among the major apparel exporters to the U.S., with its GDP per capita in 2024 estimated as $2,625 by IMF, leaving the country lower than China, Indonesia, Vietnam and other Asian peers.
"Exports falling means a production cut, which will lessen demand for workers, thus they will loss jobs," Amirul Haque Amin, president of the National Garment Workers Federation, fears, predicting that a 10% to 20% job cut may take place eventually.
And what Amin foresees beyond the job losses is the possible destabilization of the country. There would be "massive" social unrest "if a good number of factories stop production, leading to huge unemployment in a poor segment of people," he said.Khondaker Golam Moazzem, an economist at the Dhaka-based Centre for Policy Dialogue, sees a possible positive impact that some of the large scale Bangladesh factories may be fortunate to receive from Trump tariffs. Due to the reciprocal tariffs, American orders could be shifting from China to Bangladesh and big factories may have scope for expansion and absorb some workers who lost jobs in the small factories, he said.
The expectation of grabbing orders originally placed in Chinese factories is growing, particularly after Trump’s Wednesday announcement of the 90-day reprieve. "The United States on Thursday raised 125% tariff on Chinese exports," said Mohiuddin Rubel, a former director of BGMEA. "Bangladesh has the potential to grab a significant portion of China’s garment exports to the United States, as well as Chinese investment, if the tariff rate remains the same for long."
But for Moazzem, if the reciprocal tariffs are actually imposed, "it is certain that small factories would not be able to sustain [themselves] due to the pressure, thus a job cut will be for sure."
"Since we heard about the imposition of high tariffs by the U.S., many of us are afraid of losing jobs," said Maria, the factory worker in Dhaka. Her factory owner and senior officials have not informed their workers about the Trump tariff to avoid creating anxiety among the employees. Still, everyone knows it already from TV news or elsewhere.
"Ours is a small factory. The chance of lessening work orders is high, thus the factory may shut down," she fears. From Revolution to Reform: The BNP’s Uphill Battle in a New Bangladesh (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [4/9/2025 12:02 PM, Shafi Md Mostofa, 777K]
Bangladesh’s political landscape has undergone seismic shifts over the past decade, marked by the rise of authoritarianism under Sheikh Hasina and the eventual ousting of her regime through a student-led revolution. Throughout this period, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has remained a significant political force, often regarded as the only party capable of defeating Hasina’s Awami League in free and fair elections.
However, despite its mass support base, the BNP has consistently been denied the opportunity to govern due to what many describe as Hasina’s election engineering. This manipulation of the electoral process not only kept the BNP out of power but also transformed Bangladesh into an authoritarian state, where dissent was crushed and democratic institutions were systematically dismantled.
The 2024 student-led revolution, which ultimately toppled Hasina’s regime, was a watershed moment for Bangladesh. It rekindled hopes for democracy and political pluralism. Yet, in the aftermath of this historic upheaval, the BNP finds itself at a crossroads. Despite its historical popularity, the party is losing ground due to a combination of internal weaknesses, external pressures, and shifting public expectations. If the BNP is to reclaim its position as a leading political force, it must address these challenges head-on and adapt to the new realities of a post-revolution Bangladesh.
The BNP’s Mass Support Base and the Shadow of Authoritarianism.
The BNP has long been one of Bangladesh’s most popular political parties, with a support base that has remained remarkably consistent over the years. According to recent surveys, the party enjoys the backing of approximately 42 percent of the electorate. This level of support suggests that, in a free and fair electoral environment, the BNP would likely have emerged victorious in the 2014, 2018, and 2024 general elections. However, such an environment has been conspicuously absent in Bangladesh for over a decade.
Under Hasina’s leadership, the Awami League government systematically undermined democratic processes to consolidate its grip on power. The BNP, as the primary opposition party, bore the brunt of repression. Its leaders were jailed, its members harassed, and its ability to campaign severely curtailed. This election engineering not only denied the BNP a chance to govern but also entrenched authoritarianism in Bangladesh, leaving little room for political pluralism or dissent.
The 2024 revolution, led by students and youth activists, was a direct response to this authoritarian drift. It was a powerful expression of popular discontent with the Hasina regime’s abuses and a demand for a return to democratic governance. The revolution succeeded in ousting Hasina, but it also ushered in a new era of political uncertainty.
For the BNP, this presents both an opportunity and a challenge. On the one hand, the party’s historical support base positions it as a natural contender for leadership in a democratic Bangladesh. On the other hand, the party’s inability to capitalize on this support base in the post-revolution period has raised questions about its relevance and effectiveness.
One of the most significant challenges facing the BNP is the prolonged absence of its acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, from the country. Rahman has been living in London since September 2008. A victim of the Hasina regime’s persecution, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in several politically motivated lawsuits. Many had expected Rahman to return to Bangladesh following the revolution, but he has yet to do so, even though some of the charges against him have been dropped.
Rahman’s absence has created a leadership vacuum within the BNP, which has been skillfully exploited by its political rivals, particularly the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). Once a marginal force in Bangladeshi politics, JI has seen its support base grow dramatically, from under 10 percent to 32 percent, according to recent surveys. This surge in popularity can be attributed, at least in part, to JI’s ability to position itself as a viable alternative to the BNP, particularly among conservative voters. In contrast, the BNP’s support base has remained stagnant at 42 percent, suggesting that the party is failing to expand its appeal or capitalize on the post-revolution momentum.
Rahman’s continued absence is not just a symbolic issue; it has practical implications for the BNP’s ability to govern and lead. As the acting chairman, Rahman is the de facto leader of the party, and his failure to return to Bangladesh has left the BNP without a unifying figurehead. This has weakened the party’s organizational structure and undermined its ability to negotiate with the interim government on critical issues, such as the reformation of the state structure. If the BNP is to regain its footing, Rahman must return to Bangladesh and take an active role in leading the party through this transitional period.
Allegations of Extortion and the Erosion of Public Trust.Another factor contributing to the BNP’s declining popularity is the perception that the party is plagued by extortion. Over the years, numerous allegations of misconduct have been leveled against BNP members, tarnishing the party’s reputation and eroding public trust. While the BNP has taken steps to address this issue by expelling some of the accused members, the damage to its image has been significant.
While young activists of the revolution are demanding transparency, accountability, and a break from the politics of the past, the BNP’s failure to distance itself from power-hungry elites and embrace a more inclusive and dynamic leadership style has only reinforced the perception that the party is out of touch with the aspirations of the people.
The BNP’s conservative approach to the reform process has also become a liability in the post-revolution era. The interim government, which was established following the ousting of Hasina, has proposed sweeping reforms aimed at restructuring the state and addressing the root causes of authoritarianism. While the BNP’s reluctance to endorse radical reforms is understandable – given the risk of prolonging the interim government’s tenure – it has put the party at odds with the demands of the youth-led revolution.
The July revolution awakened a generation of young Bangladeshis who are eager for transformative change. They want a complete overhaul of the political system, not incremental adjustments. The BNP’s conservatism, which may have been a viable political strategy in the past, is now seen as an obstacle to progress. If the party is to remain relevant, it must find a way to reconcile its cautious approach with the revolutionary fervor of the youth.
The Path Forward: Leadership, Reform, and Inclusivity.
The challenges facing the BNP are significant, but they are not insurmountable. To regain its position as a leading political force, the party must take decisive action on several fronts. First and foremost, Tarique Rahman must return to Bangladesh and assume a more active role in leading the party. His presence would not only galvanize the BNP’s support base but also demonstrate the party’s commitment to the democratic process.
Second, the BNP must address the allegations of extortion and occupation that have tarnished its reputation. This will require a thorough internal review and the implementation of strict accountability measures. The party must also embrace a more inclusive and dynamic leadership style, one that resonates with the aspirations of the younger generation.
Finally, the BNP must strike a delicate balance between its conservative instincts and the demand for radical reform. While it is important to avoid hasty decisions that could destabilize the country, the party must also recognize that the status quo is no longer tenable. By engaging in constructive dialogue with the interim government and other stakeholders, the BNP can help shape a reform agenda that is both transformative and sustainable.
The BNP’s ideological inclusivity, which has long been one of its greatest strengths, must also be leveraged to build broader coalitions and foster national unity. The spirit of the revolution was one of hope and solidarity, and the BNP must embody these values if it is to lead Bangladesh toward a brighter, more democratic future. Nepal Fights Wildfires And Pollution Amidst Drier Winter (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/9/2025 1:11 PM, Staff, 931K]
A dry winter is intensifying wildfires in Nepal, experts said Wednesday, as the capital Kathmandu continued to suffer from hazardous air quality that ranks it among the most polluted cities globally.
Nepal has seen a significant drop in post-monsoon rainfall, with 79.4 percent less precipitation between December and February compared to the average, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology said Tuesday.
More than 1,800 wildfires have been reported across the country since January, with more than a third of them occurring within the last month.
"The wildfires have increased significantly because of a dry season. There is abundance of dry fuel in the forest, so even a small fire can get uncontrollable," Prakash Malla, a forester at the Department of Forest and Soil Conservation, told AFP.
"It is challenging. The local authorities have limited resources and our terrain is also difficult," he added.
Air quality in the capital Kathmandu has been ranked the worst in the world for over a week, according to monitoring site IQAir, with some flights delayed as thick smoke blankets the city.
Levels of PM2.5 pollutants -- cancer-causing microparticles that enter the bloodstream through the lungs -- registered above 175 micrograms per cubic metre on Wednesday, according to IQAir.
A reading above 15 in a 24-hour period is considered unhealthy by the World Health Organization (WHO), and IQAir ranked Kathmandu the world’s most polluted city.
Experts at Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development(ICIMOD) in a statement last week attributed the spike to forest fires, especially in the west "where many districts are in moderate to extreme drought".
"Our analysis shows that air quality in Kathmandu was not healthy even before. But the forest fires and a stagnant atmosphere has added on to the existing pollution," ICIMOD air pollution analyst Sagar Adhikari told AFP.
Adhikari said some rain is expected in the next few days and could offer relief.
Nepal’s worst fire year was in 2021, with more than 6,500 wildfire incidents.
That year, schools were shut for four days after air quality reached hazardous levels.
Although the number of wildfires decreased in 2022, there has been a steady rise every year since.
The health ministry issued a notice last week requesting Nepalis "avoid unnecessary travel" and to wear a mask when outside.
The government also urged people to avoid construction and burning rubbish.
The Air Quality Life Index, issued by the University of Chicago, estimated in 2024 that air pollution stripped 3.4 years off the life of an average Nepal resident. Central Asia
Kazakhstan warns investment may shrink amid ‘global economic storm’ (Reuters)
Reuters [4/10/2025 4:58 AM, Mariya Gordeyeva, 5.2M]
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said he had instructed his government to urgently complete work on a plan to prevent a decline in growth and investment inflows and safeguard the Central Asian country from global economic shocks.U.S. President Donald Trump imposed additional tariffs of 27% on Kazakhstan, the only Central Asian nation targeted, earlier this month.While Trump reversed many of the hefty duties on Wednesday, countries will still face a 10% tariff, and Kazakhstan is also at risk from falling oil prices as the U.S continues to pressure China. Kazakhstan is one of the world’s top 10 oil producers. Its economy grew by 4% last year, according to the World Bank."Current events in the world may become a harbinger of a global economic storm," the government press service quoted Tokayev as saying on Thursday. "This will inevitably affect all countries, including Kazakhstan.""We must be ready for all options, act pragmatically and confidently."Total goods trade between Kazakhstan and the U.S. amounted to $3.4 billion in 2024, according to the U.S. trade representative.Kazakhstan’s central bank raised its key interest rate to 16.5% at its last meeting in March, and annual inflation stood at 10% year-on-year last month.Tokayev said the government was working to ensure its development agenda would stay on course, but he warned of potentially difficult days ahead."In the current environment, there will be a struggle for investment. Here we need to be in very good shape," he was quoted as saying. Resource-rich Uzbekistan Strikes Mineral Deals In US (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/9/2025 6:34 AM, Staff, 931K]
Uzbekistan, a Central Asian country teeming with natural resources, said Wednesday it had signed deals for US companies to invest in its minerals sector as demand for the commodity soars.Critical minerals such as copper, lithium and cobalt are essential for manufacturing high-tech products like electric cars and solar panels.
Both the US and European Union are seeking to reduce their dependence on China, currently the world’s top producer of critical minerals.
On Monday, an Uzbek government delegation signed a critical minerals agreements with US companies in Washington, Uzbekistan’s trade ministry said in a statement.
"These agreements encompass investments in the exploration and extraction of minerals," including the construction of grinding machinery and training for Uzbek specialists, it added.
The former Soviet republics of Central Asia have attracted interest from Western countries seeking to diversify their energy and supply chains away from Russia and China.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been trying to liberalise his country’s economy after a quarter century of isolation during his predecessor’s era.
He announced a $2.6-billion investment plan for the country’s minerals sector in March. Russian Sanctions And Now Trump’s Tariffs Help Chinese EVs Make Inroads In Central Asia (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/9/2025 7:08 PM, Nargiz Khamrabaeva, Bolot Kolbaev, Bagdat Kamashev, Umida Maniyazova, and Reid Standish, 968K]
Even before Chinese electric cars became a mainstay of the bustling streets of Tajikistan’s capital, Tolib Raufov knew they would offer an upside to taxi drivers like him.
He bought his first Chinese electric vehicle (EV) three years ago for the equivalent of $30,000, he says, and resold it last year. With that money, he was able to buy a model from BYD –- China’s leading EV maker that recently overtook Tesla in total sales –- for only $21,000. Raufov says the affordable price, strong local resale value, and savings from no longer needing to buy gas have left him with better margins than ever as a taxi driver.
"I have no regrets after buying a Chinese electric car," he told RFE/RL. "It’s never been this profitable for me to drive a taxi in Dushanbe.".
Raufov’s experiences provide an up-close look at one of the most visible ways that China’s growing economic influence in the region is reshaping Tajikistan and the other countries of Central Asia -– Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
While he and other taxi drivers embrace the Chinese imports for their affordability, Central Asian governments are opening the door with tax breaks, a green infrastructure expansion, and new factories for local production.
The result, say analysts and local car importers who spoke to RFE/RL, is not only a revision of Central Asia’s transportation landscape but an acceleration of the economic and political trends already integrating the region more closely with neighboring China.The trend puts Central Asia at odds with some Western countries, most notably the United States and the European Union, which have imposed tariffs to curb Chinese EV imports in recent years. This could grow even more against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs and escalating trade war with Beijing as Chinese state-backed firms look to the region to substitute US imports and reroute exports.
"The Trump administration’s tariffs are likely to further stimulate China’s EV exports to Central Asia and may push Beijing to expand local production in the region," Yunis Sharifli, a nonresident fellow at the China Global South Project, told RFE/RL. "This would help meet domestic demand, support reexport strategies, and diminish the competitive space for Western players in Central Asia’s EV market.".
How Chinese Cars Took Over Central Asia
China’s leading position in Central Asia’s vehicle market is the result of years of strategy and opportunity.
"The main reason for China’s growth in the EV and car industry has been the rise in demand in Central Asia," Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, told RFE/RL. "Consumers want what Chinese brands are offering.".
Beijing’s major investment push into the region came over the last decade through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) -– a multibillion dollar infrastructure strategy championed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping –- as China looked to build new trade routes and more easily procure Central Asia’s hydrocarbons, critical minerals, and other valuable resources.
But more recently, China has established itself as a leading trade partner and top foreign investor, which has corresponded with Chinese companies expanding their footprint and playing a larger role across the region’s economies.
Tajikistan has also rolled out an array of incentives for EVs from neighboring China, including tax breaks and rebates for consumers, a decade-long tax exemption for EV imports, and building charging stations across the country.
The mayor of Dushanbe also passed legislation in September to transition the city’s taxis to EVs and the government has set a target for 30 percent of the country’s cars to be fully electric by 2030.
Rustam, a car importer in Dushanbe who asked that his last name not be used in order to speak to RFE/RL, says the networks with China deepened first because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and then again with Moscow’s all-out war with Ukraine in 2022.
While some importers are large enterprises, others like Rustam are individual businessmen who drive and resell the cars across borders.
Rustam says he used to bring in cars from Europe, sometimes making journeys as far afield as Lithuania. But with supply chains disrupted during lockdowns and Chinese companies selling their cars at lower prices when China’s strict regulations were lifted, the import networks turned east.
He says that shift deepened again with sanctions placed on Russia, whose economy is interlinked with Tajikistan’s, and left car imports from Europe less profitable.
"The Chinese produce high-quality cars now," Rustam said. "Even if sanctions are lifted, the situation in our market will not change.".‘A Lightning Pace Of Development’.
In the case of EVs, Central Asia is both a growing market and production hub for Chinese brands.
Turkmenistan, the most reclusive country in Central Asia, has also begun to import Chinese EVs, albeit at a much slower pace than its neighbors.
As part of a broader strategy to roll out more green technologies, the government has imported Chinese EVs made by JAC Motors as part of a program for electric city taxis and built accompanying charging stations.
Elsewhere across the region, the market inroads have increased at an accelerating pace.
As the global market for EVs hit a record high of 11 million cars sold in 2024 -– in large part driven by sales inside China -- Kazakhstan saw a 36-fold rise in the sale of Chinese EVs that same year.
Astana is looking to develop its own EV industry with the support of Chinese production, and the Kazakh government has already passed a law establishing a road map to build more charging stations and improve its power grids by 2029.
Non-EV cars from China have also made inroads in Kazakhstan. A local plant will go into operation this year to assemble models made by the Chinese carmakers Chery, Haval, Tank, and Changan.
Oksana Chernonozhkina, editor in chief of the online car magazine Test-drive.kz, says Chinese car brands, not only those making EVs, have taken the Kazakh market by storm as they’ve quickly caught up with, and in some cases surpassed, their competitors from Europe, the United States, and elsewhere in Asia.
"It’s been a lightning pace of development. They lured top designers and engineers for their brands, and this is bearing fruit," Chernonozhkina told RFE/RL.
Aleksei Aleksiev, editor in chief of the Kazakh auto industry publication Behind The Wheel, says Chinese companies currently account for five of the best-selling brands in Kazakhstan, with Korean and Japanese cars also holding top spots.
"We’ve seen European brands lose a lot of market share since the pandemic," Aleksiev told RFE/RL. "Chinese companies offer good prices, the latest technology, and most importantly, they offer a five- to seven-year warranty. Most European brands offer only three [years].".
In Uzbekistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev attended the opening of a BYD factory in Jizzakh in 2024. The plant has already created 1,200 jobs and aims to grow production from 50,000 per year to 500,000. China’s Xiaou Group is also building another EV plant in the country as part of a $1.5 billion investment.
Tashkent signed an agreement with China’s Henan Suda company to establish 50,000 charging stations by 2033 and boosted sales for the cars by making EV imports exempt from certain taxes, customs duties, and other fees. These state policies have also provided financial incentives for local entrepreneurs to build their own charging stations and cut the cost of buying an EV for Uzbek consumers.
Consequently, EV sales have increased tenfold since the first policies were enacted in 2019 and have continued to grow. According to Uzbek customs data, 2024 marked the first time in the country that more EVs and hybrids were imported than gas-powered cars.
The transition to EVs in Uzbekistan is also bringing economic benefits for those who make the switch. Kahramon, a 53-year-old from Tashkent who recently bought a BYD e2, says his savings are adding up. He no longer has to pay for oil changes and his monthly fuel costs have dropped from $300 for his old gas car to $10 to charge his new EV.
"This car isn’t made for going long distances and charging times are not quick," he told RFE/RL. "But it is ideal for urban driving in the country.".
From Reexport To Domestic Growth
Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile, has become the leading reexporter of Chinese cars, not only EVs, to Russia among all of Central Asia.
In 2023, Kyrgyzstan imported $651 million worth of Chinese hybrid cars. In 2024, 7,541 EVs, valued at $219.8 million, were brought into the country.
However, this growth of imports hasn’t only been only for the domestic market.
Western sanctions placed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine cut off large imports of Western and Japanese cars, and Chinese-made automobiles –- EVs as well as hybrid and traditional engines –- have filled the void in part thanks to Kyrgyz entrepreneurs.
Daniyar Salyakaev, a car importer who runs a well-known blog in Kyrgyzstan about cars, says that Kyrgyz businessmen took advantage of Russian demand and the Central Asian country’s liberal customs procedures to resell cars from their large neighbor in the east to Russia in the north.
"Sanctions were an opportunity and local entrepreneurs moved quickly to seize it thanks to their links with both Russia and China and our country’s geography," he told RFE/RL.
Almost 150,000 cars from China have been officially imported to Kyrgyzstan over the past three years. Officially, only a tenth of them were reexported to Russia, but this figure is believed to be much higher.
But while the flood of imports has been directed mostly toward Russia, it is also increasingly common to see Chinese cars on the roads in Kyrgyzstan.
The same combination of affordability and rising quality has led to more Kyrgyz turning to Chinese cars. Some Chinese companies are also expanding to the country, with construction beginning in 2024 on a $115 million EV and commercial truck plant near Bishkek in collaboration with China’s Hubei Zhuoyue Group.
Salyakaev says that Russian customs changes have made the reexport of Chinese cars to the country from Kyrgyzstan less profitable, but the experience has left structures and relationships in place that will carry over as the local market for Chinese vehicles grows.
"While Kyrgyzstan was becoming a hub where cars went to the Russian market, a certain infrastructure was built here with professional networks and services to import cars from China," he said. "That looks set to stay.". Central Asia-European Union green energy corridor making progress (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [4/9/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K]
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have taken a significant step to line up financing for an ambitious plan to export renewable-energy-produced electricity to Europe, signing a memorandum of understanding with the Asian Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
The MOU establishes a “robust institutional and legal framework to facilitate cross-border electricity trade,” according to a statement issued by the ADB.
ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov described the agreement as a “defining moment” for the development of a green energy corridor connecting Central Asia and the South Caucasus via a power line stretching under the Caspian Sea. The Caspian project is designed to link up with a similar initiative involving a power line across the Black Sea, enabling the export of electricity to the European Union.“Our joint cooperation will enable us to start feasibility studies of the project soon. Thanks to this regional green energy initiative, Azerbaijan and Central Asia will realize the first trans-Caspian Energy Corridor,” the Azernews agency quoted Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shabazov as saying following the MOU signing ceremony in Baku on April 4.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan unveiled their trans-Caspian plan last May, under which electricity generated from renewable sources in Central Asia, mainly solar and wind, would be exported to Azerbaijan, which would relay the power onward to the EU. So far, no cost estimates or timelines for the completion of the project have been floated.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and Bulgaria signed a MOU in early April and are presently engaged in “technical work” to prepare for a feasibility study for the Black Sea power cable project, according to an Azerbaijani media outlet. In March, Azerbaijan and Georgiarequested EU special status for the project that would expedite the regulatory approval process and make it easier for Black Sea consortium members to attract financing. Twitter
Afghanistan
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[4/9/2025 3:28 PM, 32.9K followers, 29 retweets, 163 likes]
Lots of progress today. @RepTimBurchett got a bill through committee that aims to refine the way aid is distributed in Afghanistan. I hope that we see more legislation to help our allies and to codify #EnduringWelcome.Conversations today were positive. Now we need action.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[4/9/2025 1:48 PM, 32.9K followers, 32 retweets, 210 likes]
The HFAC markup spent a fair bit of time on Afghanistan today and I’ve come away from it more optimistic than I’ve been in months because of the strong bipartisan support I heard from the dais and from Chairman @BrianMastFL after the committee went into recess. #AfghanEvac
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[4/9/2025 4:37 PM, 247.5K followers, 93 retweets, 240 likes]
The Taliban have shut down girls’ schools and turned boys’ schools into jihadi madrasas, changing the curriculum and making turbans mandatory. This isn’t education. It’s indoctrination. Pakistan
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/10/2025 3:01 AM, 3.1M followers, 2 retweets, 9 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting on the Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS) in Islamabad today.
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/9/2025 12:45 PM, 3.1M followers, 7 retweets, 12 likes]
Pakistan Implements Strategic Resource Policy for Economic Revival Pakistan has introduced a policy to prohibit the export of raw materials, aiming to promote local value addition through downstream industries. This strategic shift, leveraging the country’s vast mineral resources, is intended to reduce external debt and support sustainable economic growth.
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/9/2025 12:40 PM, 3.1M followers, 9 retweets, 40 likes]
PIA Achieves Profitability After 21 Years – A Major Milestone in 2024 In 2024, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) recorded a net profit of Rs. 26.2 billion and an operational profit of Rs. 9.3 billion, marking its first profitable year since 2003. With an operational margin exceeding 12%, PIA’s performance aligns with global industry standards, reflecting a significant turnaround for the national carrier.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan@ForeignOfficePk
[4/9/2025 1:37 PM, 481.3K followers, 102 retweets, 563 likes]
Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 held a meeting with Mr. Changpeng Zhao @cz_binance and his team, which was also attended by CEO of Pakistan Crypto Council, Bilal bin Saqib @Bilalbinsaqib and other government officials . DPM/FM underscored the government’s desire in developing sound regulatory framework for crypto and blockchain mechanisms in Pakistan. Mr. Zhao expressed his strong commitment to addressing the challenge of out-of-school children through digital education platforms which was welcomed by DPM/FM and his team. DPM/FM further highlighted the government’s focus on advancing pragmatic, forward-looking policies aimed at fostering a robust digital economy in Pakistan.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan@ForeignOfficePk
[4/9/2025 10:23 AM, 481.3K followers, 13 retweets, 26 likes]
Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 held a phone call with Adviser for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Md. Touhid Hossain. The two leaders exchanged Eid greetings, discussed areas of mutual interest, and reiterated their commitment for future engagements and cooperation. @BDMOFA
Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[4/9/2025 8:22 AM, 621.5K followers, 480 retweets, 1.7K likes]
In Karachi, protesters protesting against Israel are vandalizing KFC and Domino’s. Israel’s friends are not KFC and Domino’s but leaders of Islamic countries like Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, & Pakistan.
Hamid Mir@HamidMirPAK
[4/10/2025 2:27 AM, 8.6M followers, 41 retweets, 176 likes]
Another journalist A D Shar Baloch from @humnews_urdu brutaly murdered in Sindh province. Pakistan is becoming one of the most dangerous countries for the journalists. #JournalismIsNotACrime India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/9/2025 8:28 AM, 107.5M followers, 2.8K retweets, 16K likes]
The Cabinet decision on doubling of the Tirupati–Pakala–Katpadi railway line will ease congestion, boost rail connectivity for pilgrims and tourists, and enhance freight capacity across Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePa
Narendra Modi@narendramodi[4/9/2025 8:27 AM, 107.5M followers, 3.5K retweets, 23K likes]
Cabinet approval for the construction of the 6-lane Zirakpur Bypass will reduce travel time and also improve connectivity to Himachal Pradesh and NCR. It is also in line with our PM GatiShakti effort to build seamless, future-ready transport infrastructure. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePa
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/9/2025 8:26 AM, 107.5M followers, 2.4K retweets, 13K likes]
Union Cabinet has approved the Modernisation of Command Area Development & Water Management, which will modernise irrigation networks, boost micro-irrigation and encourage the use of latest technology. It will boost Water Use Efficiency, improve productivity, and also raise farmer incomes. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2120360 Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[4/9/2025 11:54 AM, 3.4M followers, 100 retweets, 450 likes]
Glad to join 75th anniversary celebrations of @iccr_hq. Spoke about the emergence of an IN that is confident, authentic and committed in expressing its identity as a civilisational state. The task for ICCR is to shape the global discourse and put across 🇮🇳’s message.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[4/9/2025 11:36 AM, 3.4M followers, 132 retweets, 853 likes]
Important decisions taken by the Union Cabinet today:- Approved doubling of 104 Km Tirupati-Pakala-Katpadi single railway line section in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Will augment ease of travel, reduce logistic costs and lower CO2 emissions.- Construction of 6 lane access controlled Zirakpur Bypass of 19.2 Km in Punjab and Haryana. A step - forward in improving connectivity to Himachal Pradesh and reducing vehicular congestion.- Modernization of Command Area Development and Water Management as a sub-scheme of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) for 2025-2026, to enhance the irrigation water supply network for efficient supply of water from existing canals or other sources. #CabinetDecisions
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[4/9/2025 8:35 AM, 3.4M followers, 149 retweets, 978 likes]
Pleased to interact with the 2009 batch of the Indian Foreign Service undergoing their Mid-Career Training Programme -II @SSIFS_MEA. Spoke to them about the need to be agile in this era of change and turbulence. And the increasing importance of diaspora welfare & public diplomacy.Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[4/9/2025 10:29 AM, 621.5K followers, 49 retweets, 317 likes]
India has withdrawn a four-year-old facility that allowed Bangladeshi export cargo to be transshipped through Indian land customs stations to third countries. The same stupidity Trump is doing with the world, Modi is doing with Bangladesh. The real gainer is China. NSB
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh@BDMOFA
[4/9/2025 1:43 PM, 76.8K followers, 14 retweets, 92 likes]
21st ARF ISM on CTTC kicked off today in Dhaka. Bangladesh, the Philippines and the US co-chaired the meeting. Delegates discussed global and regional security threats and called for wider collaboration across the Asia-pacific.
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[4/9/2025 1:29 PM, 140.7K followers, 81 retweets, 836 likes]
Dr. Khalil redesignated as National Security Adviser DHAKA, April 9: Dr. Khalilur Rahman, Chief Adviser’s High Representative for the Rohingya Issue and Priority Affairs, was redesignated as the National Security Adviser on Wednesday. He will retain his functions as the High Representative for the Rohingya issue. Additionally, he will assist the Chief Adviser in the discharge of his responsibilities relating to the Ministry of Defence. "I am very grateful to Honorable Chief Adviser for his continued trust and confidence. I am fully aware of the gravity of my responsibilities and will do my utmost to uphold and advance our national interest," said Dr. Rahman. Dr. Rahman joined BCS (Foreign Affairs) in 1979 after securing the first position in the first regular civil service examination after independence held in 1977. He served in various capacities in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York. In 1991, he joined the United Nations secretariat as a Special Adviser and served in different senior UN positions during the next 25 years. In November 2024, he was appointed as the High Representative with the status and privileges of an Adviser. Dr. Rahman stood first class first in MA examinations in Economics at Dhaka University in 1977. During 1980-83, he attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and earned the degrees of MA in Law and Diplomacy and PhD in Economics.
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[4/9/2025 8:02 AM, 140.7K followers, 43 retweets, 503 likes]
PRAN-RFL Group announced its plans to produce renewable energy through solar power. This clean electricity will be purchased by Bangladeshi garment suppliers catering to the globally renowned Swedish clothing brand Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M). H&M Group, in partnership with Pran Group and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the third day of the Bangladesh Investment Summit 2025 happening in Dhaka. The initiative underscores a significant step towards promoting sustainable practices within Bangladesh’s vital garment industry. The agreement was signed by key representatives from each organisation: Mr Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Chairman and CEO of PRAN-RFL Group; Mr Yosef El Natour, Head of Sustainability for Production, H&M; and Mr Vikram Kumar, Director and Regional Industry Head, Infrastructure and Natural Resources, Asia Pacific, IFC, World Bank Group. The MoU sets the stage for piloting Bangladesh’s first Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (CPPA). Backed by IFC financing and led by Pran-RFL Group, the project will enable H&M Group to link several selected suppliers to a newly developed solar park.
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[4/9/2025 7:48 AM, 140.7K followers, 24 retweets, 257 likes]
Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), Ministry of Commerce (MoC), International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Wednesday inked a Letter of Intent (LoI) for promoting trade and investment for sustainable and inclusive growth. Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun, Executive Chairman, BIDA; Mahbubur Rahman, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce; Tuomo Poutiainen, Country Director, ILO Bangladesh; and Stefan Liller, Resident Representative, UNDP, inked the LoI on behalf of their respective sides.
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[4/9/2025 6:26 AM, 140.7K followers, 39 retweets, 322 likes]
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus inaugurates Youth Entrepreneurship Expo 2025, a key highlight of the Bangladesh Investment Summit 2025, at InterContinental on Wednesday. The Expo aims to spotlight the entrepreneurial spirit of the nation’s youth and facilitate vital connections between emerging enterprises and investors.
Jon Danilowicz@JonFDanilowicz
[4/9/2025 1:15 PM, 14.9K followers, 13 retweets, 169 likes]
This is a fantastic appointment which addresses a longstanding gap in Bangladesh’s national security and foreign policy decision making and policy implementation. Not only will this strengthen the government’s ability to coordinate policy vis a vis great powers, it will also establish a precedent for future governments. I can’t think of a better person to fill this vital role than Dr. Khalilur Rahman. https://tbsnews.net/bangladesh/kha
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[4/9/2025 10:00 AM, 112.6K followers, 118 retweets, 114 likes]
President expresses confidence in DSSS to address climate financing challenges for SIDS https://presidency.gov.mv/Press/Article/33474
MOFA of Nepal@MofaNepal
[4/9/2025 6:16 AM, 262.9K followers, 18 retweets, 59 likes]
Hon. Foreign Minister Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba inspected the consignments of relief materials ready to be sent to Myanmar today. With support of private sector, the Government of Nepal is sending food items, medicines, clothes, tents, kitchen utensils etc. as support to earthquake victims in Myanmar @Arzuranadeuba @amritrai555 @krishnadhakal07
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[4/9/2025 5:59 AM, 149.2K followers, 23 retweets, 147 likes]
Today, I launched Sri Lanka’s National Anti-Corruption Action Plan 2025–2029. We have freed the fight against corruption from political interference. Public officials have 6 months to reform. After May, the law will act firmly. Corruption ends here. The responsibility of eradicating bribery and corruption will not be passed on to the next generation but will be resolved by our government.
Namal Rajapaksa@RajapaksaNamal
[4/9/2025 10:32 AM, 436.5K followers, 2 retweets, 20 likes]
We welcome President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s initiative to engage all political parties in addressing the impact of US tariffs on Sri Lankan exports. A collective national response is vital—and I hope the government won’t just listen to suggestions, but act on them swiftly. Central Asia
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[4/9/2025 1:00 PM, 215.6K followers, 3 retweets, 10 likes]
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting to boost regional tourism and accelerate foreign investment projects. A program focusing on ethno-, gastronomic, medical, extreme, cultural, pilgrimage, winter, and agro-tourism in districts and cities will be developed. It’s planned to launch a National Unified Tourism Platform, integrating e-visa and ticketing services, alongside a unified tourist card system. Also investment projects progress has been reviewed with new plans set up.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[4/9/2025 6:26 AM, 215.6K followers, 3 retweets, 13 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev reviewed proposals on organizing urban renovation system. The renovation will be implemented in three stages: identifying suitable areas and designing projects; review and approval by authorities; construction and commissioning of new housing. Local economies will be boosted through including retail, services, and production spaces on the lower floors of new buildings.
Bakhtiyor Saidov@FM_Saidov
[4/9/2025 7:47 PM, 12.3K followers, 8 retweets, 11 likes]
We had a constructive and candid meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor H.E. @MichaelGWaltz today in #Washington, D.C. Discussed a wide range of regional and international topics, reaffirming our shared commitment to deepening the Strategic Partnership between #Uzbekistan and the #UnitedStates. Our dialogue focused on strengthening cooperation in security, economic progress, regional connectivity, and promoting sustainable development in #CentralAsia. Appreciate @POTUS’s continued support for Uzbekistan’s reform agenda and our joint efforts to ensure peace and prosperity in the region.
Bakhtiyor Saidov@FM_Saidov
[4/9/2025 3:31 PM, 12.3K followers, 16 retweets, 26 likes]
Great pleasure to meet with U.S. Secretary of State H.E. @SecRubio for a comprehensive exchange on the current dynamics and future direction of #Uzbekistan–#US Strategic Partnership. We covered a broad range of key areas, including strengthening political dialogue, expanding economic and investment cooperation, advancing regional connectivity, and deepening our shared commitment to security and stability in #CentralAsia. Appreciate #UnitedStates’ strong support for the reform processes in Uzbekistan. We agreed to maintain the positive momentum in bilateral ties through continued high-level dialogue and practical cooperation under the #StrategicPartnership Framework.
Bakhtiyor Saidov@FM_Saidov
[4/9/2025 2:00 PM, 12.3K followers, 9 retweets, 22 likes]
Productive meeting with Mr. Adebayo Ogunlesi, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners, Senior Managing Director @BlackRock. We explored opportunities to deepen cooperation focusing on sustainable investments in many dimensions. Uzbekistan is committed to creating a favorable investment climate, and #BlackRock’s expertise aligns with our strategic goals for modernization and connectivity. We look forward to building a strong partnership to bring transformative projects to life in our region.{End of Report} To subscribe to the SCA Morning Press Clips, please email SCA-PressOfficers@state.gov. Please do not reply directly to this email.